Actuated elephant bank



Oct. 17, 1950 RUDOLF 2,526,612

ACTUATED ELEIPHANT BANK Filed lay 27, 1947 Zhwentor Wet ' Cittorneu Patented Oct. 17, 1950 ACTUATED ELEPHANT BANK James A. Rudolf, Long Beach, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, of one-half to Russell 0. Hodges, San Marine, and one-half to Mathew Miller, Santa Monica, Calif.

Application May 27, 1947, Serial No. 750,661

1 Claim.

My invention relates to the field of toy banks, and more particularly to an improved actuated elephant shaped bank.

Although hollow banks in the form of elephants having movable coin receiving trunks provided thereon have appeared on the market in the past, a number of these banks have suffered from disadvantages which render them unsatisfactory for use as toys by small children. The previously A further object of my invention is to provide a bank that while primarily a toy, will be soattractive in appearance as to appeal to adults not only for use as a savings bank, but as anarticle of ornamentation.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred form thereof, and from the drawing illustrating that form in which:

available elephant banks while having coin rem Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved ceiving slots on the outer extremity of their trunk elephant shaped bank; portions have not had slot arrangements that Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal cross-secwould receive and firmly hold coins of various tional view of the device with the coin receiving denominations. In addition, a certain amount of trunk in the downward position; skill was required to raise the trunks of these Figure3 is another vertical eross-sectionalvlew elephant banks in such a manner that coins of of the device with the trunk raised to the coin a certain denomination would not fall from the depositing position; coin holding slot prior to being deposited within Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the confines of the animal. the device taken on the line 4ll in Figure 3; and As numerous children interested in elephant Figure 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of banks will not have the skill to elevate the anithe trunk member showing in detail the conmals trunk to the coin depositing position withstruction of my improved double bottomed coin out spilling the coin therefrom, the previous elereceiving slot taken on the line 55 in Figure 2. phant banks have upon occasion proved to be Referring now to Figures 1 and 2 for the gendisappointing toys. 25 eral arrangement of my invention it will be seen In addition, should a child place the conventhat the bank is formed from a pair of conventional elephant bank in a position with the head tional engaging elephant shaped sections In and of the animal extending downwardly, coins will H which when fitted together form a complete often fall from the coin receiving opening prohollow animal. Extending longitudinally through vided therein. Another feature detracting from the animal, as best seen in Figure 2, is a rotatthe amusement value of the previous elephant ably mounted lever 12 that is actuated from its banks has been that the trunks of the animals rearward end by a piVOtally Supported p d could be operated by children without recourse tail piece 3- The leVeI' l2 Serves 5% dual p p to the tail actuating mechanisms. that of rotating a forwardly disposed coin re- It is to eliminate the disadvantages of the preceiving trunk 14 upwardly to deposit a coin within viously available elephant banks that I have inthe confines of the animal, a t0 prevent the vented my improved actuated bank. trunk 14 from being moved except by the use of A major object of my invention is to provide th 11 110 606 B- a toy el-ephane bank that willbe furnished with an Centrally positioned on the interior faces 10f actuatable trunk having a double bottomed coin m sections In n II r nw r y eXtending yl receiving slot provided therein which will receive drical bosses l5 and I6 respe y, h of Which and hold coins of various denominations; that terminates a short distance b w h n gi will have a totally enclosed head when the trunk face 0f e Section from which it is pp rt of the animal is occupying the normal downward The level 12, s y best b Seen in Fi h coin receiving position; and will have a coin derotatably upp p a machine screw 1 positing trunk that W111 remain in a locked posi a extends inwardly through a b 8 f rm d tion, except when actuated by pressure applied to in theboss to engage an internally ppe bore the tail portion of the animal. I9 situated in the boss 15. It will be noted that Another object of my invention i t furnish the head of the machine screw [1 is countersunk a toy elephant bank that will be of an extremely into a tapered p g 20 provided at simple mechanical structure, that can either be trance o e b l8, and prevents a child r m die cast or molded from a suitable plastic matebeing cut o nj d on a p j n po o rial, and which can be manufactured sufficiently the screw. cheaply as to be retailed in the low and medium To permit the i s 0 an II o be fi d.to priced merchandising fields. gether with a minimum amount of effort, anumber of outwardly extending pins 2! are provided along the lower engagin edge of the section I I to contact the interior surface of the section It] as may best be seen in Figure 4. The lever I2 is an irregularly shaped member having a slightly upwardly inclined central portion 22 from which extends rearwardly and slightly upwardly an arm 23 that supports upon its upper edge a short pin 24. Encircling the pin 24 is a helical spring 25 that extends upwardly to contact the lower face of a lug 26 which is supported from the upper portion of the section II. The sprin 25 is held in compression at all times and tends to rotate the lever [2 in a counter-clockwise direction.

Engaging the rearward end of the arm 23 is a short horizontally disposed bar 21 that is supported from the outer extremity of a forwardly and downwardly extending arm 28 of the tail piece l3, and which bar prevents the lever l2 from being rotated downwardly by the spring 25 more than a predetermined distance. The tail piece 3 is actuated by finger pressure being applied to a rearwardly extending arm 29 that forms a part thereof. To support the tail piece 13 in the body of the elephant each of the sections l and II is furnished on its rearward portion with a rectangular engaging slot 39, and with the tail piece bein mounted on a horizontal pin 3| that is supported from the vertical face of the slot formed in the section II. Thus it will be seen in Figures 3 and 4 that by downward movement of the tail piece arm 29 the lever 12 is rotated clockwise.

Extending slightly upwardly from the forward. end of the central lever portion 22 is tapered elongated member 32 that maintains the trunk l4 in a locked position by engaging an inward extension 33 formed on its rearward edge. The trunk I 4 is rotatably mounted on a horizontal pin 35 that is affixed to the vertical face of one of a pair of rectangular engaging slots 34 that are formed in the head portion of the elephant, and in which the upper portion of the trunk is situated. The upper portion of the trunk i4 is formed by an inwardly curved arm 35, which when the trunk is in the normal downward coin receivin position as shown in Figure 2, closes the coin receiving opening formed by the pair of engaging slots 34. However, as may be seen in Figure 3, when the trunk I4 is in the coin L depositing position the arm 36 is rotated downwardly into an unobstructing position.

For rotating the trunk l4 upwardly into a coin depositing position a rearwardly inclined recess 3? is provided on the rearward side of the trunk at the base of the arm 36. Upon the forward end of the member 32 being rotated downwardly from the locking position shown in Figure 2, the recess 31 is engaged and the trunk l4 rotated in a counter-clockwise direction. The forward portion of the trunk I4 is formed from a roughly arcuate shaped portion 38 having a crescent shaped coin receiving member 39 positioned on its upper end. For receiving coins of various denomination in the member 39 it is provided with a double bottomed slot 40 havin vertical side walls. It will be noted in Fig. that the two bottoms of the slot 40 are provided by a step 4! extending out from one side wall of the slot, and a base or bottom 42 situated a short distance therebelow. Both the step 4i and the base 42 are curved in a concave manner with the portion of the curve near the rearward side of the coin receiving member 39 rising more sharply than the balance of the curve in order that coins will not roll therefrom until they are ready to enter the coin receiving opening in the head of the animal. By the use of the above described coin receiving slot the thicker coins like nickels and quarters will rest on the step 4| and be held between the sidewalls of the slot, while the thinner coins will rest on the base 42 and be held between the outer side wall 43 and the side wall 44 situated below the step. Thus four types of coins can be held in my improved coin receiving slot without danger of being spilled therefrom on their journey to the coin receiving opening formed by the recesses 34 in the head of the animal.

The operation and assembly of my bank is extremely simple. The lever i2 is rotatably mounted upon the machine screw IT, and the tail piece [3 together with the trunk M, are placed upon their pin supports 3| and respectively. Helical spring 25 is now inserted over the pin 24 and the upper end of the spring placed in contact with the lower face of the lug 26. The threaded portion of the screw I7 is caused to engage the bore l9 with the result that the bank is held together as an integral unit. It will be obvious that upon the bank becoming filled with coins, that the screw I! can be removed to permit the coins to be emptied therefrom and the bank then put together in the above described manner.

In the operation of the bank a coin which can be a penny, nickel, dime or quarter is inserted into the slot and the lever 29 pressed downwardly. The lever i2 is rotated in a clockwise direction by the tail piece member 21, and in so doing the member 32 which normally locks the trunk M by being in contact with the extension 33 is moved therefrom to engage the recess 3'1. The coin receiving portion 39 of the trunk is rotated to a position adjacent to the head portion of the animal and the coin held in slot 49 rolls therefrom through the coin receiving opening formed by the pair of engaging recesses 34 into the confines of the animal. In Figure 3 it will be seen that during the time a coin is being deposited in the bank the arm 36 is in an unobstructing position. Upon pressure being released from the tail piece member 29 the spring 25 immediately expands and returns the tail l3 to its initial position. The lever arm 32 engages the trunk extension 33 with the result that pressure applied to the trunk I4 from the forward portion of the animal will not be able to rotate it to a coin depositing position which can only be accomplished by the use of the tail piece l3. It will also be apparent that with the trunk M in the locked position and the coin depositing opening in the head of the animal closed by the arm 36 that there is no chance for a child to lose coins from the bank by placing it in a position in which the head of the animal is situated downwardly.

While the device shown and described herein is fully capable of achieving the objectsv and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated it is capable of considerable modification within the spirit of the invention. Therefore I do not mean to be limited to the form shown and described herein but rather to the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A hollow elephant simulating toy bank having a pivotally movable trunk with a coin depositing member supported thereon, said member provided with a slot having an intermediately positioned step formed in one side thereof, whereby relative- 5 1y thin coins will be retained in said slot between the side Wall portions below said step, and relatively thick coins will rest on said step and be held between the side wall portions existing thereabove, until said trunk is swung upwardly into a coin depositing position.

JAMES A. RUDOLF.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Frisbie June 8, 1875 Shepard et a1 Mar. 14, 1882 Barnard Feb. 13, 1883 Regester July 24, 1888 01m et a1 Feb. 5, 1901- Munroe Mar. 27, 1945 

